PARIS – Ten towns have already signed up for what has become a very popular program at the Oxford County Jail.

It’s called Operation Clean Up, in which inmates pick up trash and rubbish on town streets in a supervised operation accompanied by a slow-moving jail van and a guard.

The service is available to any Oxford County town at no cost to taxpayers. It is paid for under state adult work program money available to correctional institutions.

Lt. Loretta Sanborn, who supervises the cleanup for the county, said towns that have signed on to the program that will kick off in May are Greenwood, Norway, Gilead, Buckfield, Newry, Canton, Peru, Hiram and Dixfield. Fryeburg and Stow are expected to sign on as well, and Hanover has made special arrangements to have raking done instead at its town office.

Operation Clean Up, modeled after similar programs elsewhere, is in its third year in Oxford County.

“In the past two years we’ve had 17 towns. The letters (to towns) went out a week ago. People don’t realize what a service this is,” Sanborn said.

The inmate trustees wear identifying orange vests and go where the towns want them to go, for up to two days of labor and litter pickup. Last year, the inmates picked up trash and rubbish on the side of town streets and highways covering around 203 miles over a period of a month.

The bagged trash is either left on the roadside for prearranged pickup by the town, or is taken by the jail van to the nearest transfer station, Sanborn said.

Last year’s program made use of two inmates working a total of 237 hours, but Sanborn said she is planning to expand the program this year to four inmates.

The inmates, in return for their work, get a break from jail life, an outdoor meal, and half a day off their sentence for each day worked, Sanborn said.

“This is a public works project. We’re trying to help the towns,” she said.